IE usage falls under 60% while Chrome shines

Internet Explorer's market share continues to drop. Now it's crashed through the psychologically-significant 60% mark. On the other hand, Google's Chrome is growing, while Firefox stagnates. In IT Blogwatch, bloggers study the stats.

By Richi Jennings. May 4, 2010.
(MSFT) (GOOG)

Your humble blogwatcher selected these bloggy morsels for your enjoyment. Not to mention the FBI Error...
 
 
Gavin Clarke has the facts and figures:

Internet Explorer slipped below 60% of the market in April ... according to the latest figures from Net Applications. That was down from ... 67.77% in April 2009. ... Meanwhile, Google's Chrome continued its steady climb ... [to] 6.73%. ... Firefox ... has hit a plateau ... [at] 24.59%.
...
IE's decline is not new ... [but] the release of ... Windows 7 - has not arrested the downward drift.

Internet Explorer ... dropped to under 60% for the first time since it crushed Netscape in the 90's. ... Google's Open source Chrome Browser, which is available on Mac, Windows and Linux [had] a hearty gain.
...
The stats [are] according to NetApplications who follow browsing habits on their 40,000+ web servers.

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes analyzes Chrome's 0.6% point increase:

That might not seem like much, but it’s the largest increase that the browser has seen since ... launch, and more than any of the other players. ... What is it about Chrome that people like? Is it that’s a lightweight browser? ... Its minimalistic look and feel? ... Is is that it’s new? ... Because Google is pushing it hard?
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Having spoken to a number of recent converts to Google Chrome, it seems that the minimalistic nature of the browser is certainly one attractive feature. ... I’m wondering if there’s not a market for a “lite” version of the top browsers - Firefox would be the main candidate. ... Rip out everything but the basics.

Emil Protalinski looks to Europe for answers:

The EU's browser ballot may be contributing to IE's slide, but ... last month's loss is hardly out of the ordinary. ... If you were expecting Internet Explorer to lose market share at an accelerated pace, it simply hasn't happened.
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Being the default app in the world's most popular operating system continues to boost IE. ... IE7 and IE6 are both slowly sliding backwards. ... Unfortunately for Web developers everywhere, IE6's share is greater than IE7's.

But Kit Eaton ponders inside baseball:

Does the average end user care about this one jot? ... Probably not. ... People have used [IE] as their only portal to the Net for so long that it becomes habitual. ... The stats are ... a litmus test for the PC industry as a whole ... hinting at some market changes that are seeing more Apple laptops and desktops ... and the slight loosening of the grip of MS on the portable industry.
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It's likely that IE's dominance will continue to slip. Which may be a great thing for the web.

Meanwhile, Gr8Apes hopes IE's share keeps dropping:

This is the best news since... the last news that IE market share was dropping.

 
And Finally...
FBI Error!
 
 
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Richi Jennings is an independent analyst/consultant, specializing in blogging, email, and security. A cross-functional IT geek since 1985, you can follow him as @richi on Twitter, pretend to be richij's friend on Facebook, or just use good old email: itbw@richij.com. You can also read Richi's full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.